Major League Baseball has had a major problem with marketing itself in the past 20-30 years. The strike years, coupled with steroids and insane contracts have pushed people from the game that we all know and love. So, how do we start to bring people back into the fray? Most of the conversation has surrounded the All-Star Game. The annual festival of Major League Baseball features a variety of fan-driven gimmicks. The fan vote, the final vote, the home run derby, and all of the rule changes that we've seen baseball tinker with to experiment with the four-day extravaganza.

The Home Run Derby was a blast last season. The time clock added drama to the event that we've missed. The Todd Frazier win, in his hometown, (and yes, I'm a little biased) made it a spectacular show. That was fun. Keep building on that.

This season, the Derby should be another good one. We should see a full feature of stars on display in Sunny San Diego. It'll be fun!

But, how should we increase the fun meter? Add a pitchers derby.

This would be a fun way to see some guys dabble in an area we rarely see them dabble. The same format, albeit smaller, would suffice. Madison Bumgarner, Jake Arrieta, Noah Syndergaard, and so on. It'll be great. These guys want to do it, and we want to see it. Is it gimmicky? Maybe a tad. But, that's perfectly okay. We're watching batting practice as is, and it's great again! This would make for another event for baseball to collect some $$$ from ticket sales and ad revenue, but it would also change things up and liven the competition in a way that baseball desperately needs.

The pitchers say six, would do battle. The first round it's three, one-on-one battles. The winners advance, the most homers advances to the finals. The two other winners play for the finals spot. Then, the winner advances into the big-boy show the following evening. It'll be an adventure!

That'd be fun. MadBum should be in the regular one this year. The guy would be great for marketing and would actually have a good showing. I am upset that MLB says that him being in it would be bad, because it would take a spot away from a position player, when pitchers have to hit too. (In one league at least).